Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)–based imaging is becoming a promising technique in the panel of spatially resolved elemental approaches. This method has outstanding advantages, such as all-optical instrumentation, fast acquisition speed, operation at ambient atmosphere, and detection limits at the ppm scale for most elements. LIBS-based imaging has an extensive range of applications, including biology, medicine, industry, and geology. In this paper, we report on recent advances in LIBS imaging, focusing on instrumentation, performance, and applicability. Two examples are shown: first, a speleothem with application to paleoclimate studies, and second, a biological organ with implications for toxicology of new drugs based on nanoparticles. Finally, some future directions are discussed.

In the past few years, the application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to microscopic elemental imaging has seen significant developments, in terms of both instrumentation and applications (1–4). In LIBS imaging, a series of laser-induced plasma is generated at different positions on the sample surface with a predefined sequence covering the region of interest. Such plasma sources allow specific optical responses resulting from the electronic relaxation of atoms and ions excited by the high plasma temperature to be elicited from the elements constituting the sample. The light emitted by the plasma is collected and analyzed using an optical spectrometer. The elemental “signal”(atomic and ionic emissions) is then extracted from the recorded spectra, and elemental maps can be obtained in a pixel-by-pixel manner (Figure 1)(5, 6).